Taxonomic revision of the genus Xenopholis Peters, 1869 (Serpentes: Dipsadidae): Integrating morphology with ecological niche

A reliable identification and delimitation of species is an essential pre-requisite for many fields of science and conservation. The Neotropical herpetofauna is the world's most diverse, including many taxa of uncertain or debated taxonomy. Here we tackle one such species complex, by evaluating...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2020-12, Vol.15 (12), p.e0243210-e0243210
Main Authors: Gomes, Daniel Faustino, Azevedo, Josué, Murta-Fonseca, Roberta, Faurby, Søren, Antonelli, Alexandre, Passos, Paulo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
anole lizards
atlantic forest
Biodiversity
Biological Systematics
Biologisk systematik
Biology and Life Sciences
Color
colubridae
Colubridae - anatomy & histology
Colubridae - classification
Conservation
Ecological niches
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Ecosystem
Ekologi
Environmental science
Female
food-habits
Genitalia - anatomy & histology
Geographical distribution
Herpetofauna
Identification and classification
Jargon
Leaf litter
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
molecular phylogeny
Morphology
Museums
Niches
People and places
Physiological aspects
Qualitative analysis
rain-forest
Rainforests
scalaris
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Skull
Skull - anatomy & histology
Snakes
South America
Species
systematic revision
Taxa
Taxonomic revision
Taxonomy
Varieties
Wetlands
wucherer
Xenopholis
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Summary:A reliable identification and delimitation of species is an essential pre-requisite for many fields of science and conservation. The Neotropical herpetofauna is the world's most diverse, including many taxa of uncertain or debated taxonomy. Here we tackle one such species complex, by evaluating the taxonomic status of species currently allocated in the snake genus Xenopholis (X. scalaris, X. undulatus, and X. werdingorum). We base our conclusions on concordance between quantitative (meristic and morphometric) and qualitative (color pattern, hemipenes and skull features) analyses of morphological characters, in combination with ecological niche modeling. We recognize all three taxa as valid species and improve their respective diagnosis, including new data on color in life, pholidosis, bony morphology, and male genitalia. We find low overlap among the niches of each species, corroborating the independent source of phenotypic evidence. Even though all three species occur in the leaf litter of distinct forested habitats, Xenopholis undulatus is found in the elevated areas of the Brazilian Shield (Caatinga, Cerrado and Chaco), whereas X. scalaris occurs in the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests, and X. werdingorum in the Chiquitanos forest and Pantanal wetlands. We discuss the disjunct distribution between Amazonian and Atlantic Forest snake species in the light of available natural history and ecological aspects. This study shows the advantages of combining multiple data sources for reliable identification and circumscription of ecologically similar species.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0243210